The free service from the print management company traces the environmental impact for any print job and records the entire lifecycle of a printed item – from paper source and print process, to delivery and use.

According to Clare Allman, marketing manager for Ecover, the company decided to use the service because it always takes "a wide variety of ecological criteria into consideration with every decision made".

The tracking service is being used for a leaflet advising Ecover customers on how to use water wisely and informing them of the company's links with the charity WaterAid for a project to help provide clean water to villages in rural Ethiopia.

Lena Johansson, director of Four Corners, said that while printer buyers often think they have done enough when they opt for FSC-certified paper and vegetable-based inks, the Responsible Print service looks at the bigger picture and takes the supply chain into account.

"This is particularly relevant to ethical and environmental organisations which wish to promote their products and services without harming the environment, in line with their ethical commitments," she said.

Print jobs that comply with the Responsible Print criteria are issued with a unique reference number.

Companies can then add the Responsible Print logo to the printed material along with the reference number. This allows consumers to go online, input the number and view the environmental savings resulting from the print buying decision.

Ecover's WaterAid brochures were printed on 9 Lives 55 Silk, supplied at a special rate by The Paper Company – a supplier of environmentally friendly printing paper.

Four Corners said it had passed on the saving in the form of a donation to Ecover's WaterAid project.

The Responsible Print report for the Ecover/Water Aid leaflet can be viewed by going to www.responsibleprint.info and inputting the code GDA570382.